Following a whirlwind weekend for Kilkenny teams, the club season on the hurling front will come to a conclusion in January with Tullogher-Rosbercon, Thomastown and O’Loughlin Gaels all sealing safe passage to the junior, intermediate and senior All-Ireland championship finals respectively.
It looked like it could be a slow start for Tullogher against Castleblaney in their All-Ireland junior hurling semi-final on Sunday but a 2-8 to 1-8 lead at halftime was never given surrendered.
2-9 from Cian O’Donoughue helped the Kilkenny and Leinster junior champions to a 3-20 to 1-12 win and punch their ticket to an All-Ireland final against Munster junior champions St. Catherines.
House Donnelly was in full force for Thomastown on Sunday afternoon as the Kilkenny and Leinster intermediate champions smashed 6-26 past Setanta – John Donnelly hitting 3-2, captain Stephen Donnelly adding 1-5 and our semi-final player of the match Robbie Donnelly notching up 0-5. Thomastown will now face Castlelyons in four weeks time.
Then with O’Loughlin Gaels, as they’ve done on more than one occasion this campaign, they left it late to pull away and secure a championship final berth in a game that had everything against Ruairí Óg. They wouldn’t take a lead until the depths of the second half, but when they did they held on all the way to the final whistle in what turned out to be a nail-biter of a game. You can listen back to that one below.
January beckons
Now, as has become familiar ground for the likes of Ballyhale Shamrocks in recent years, all three Kilkenny clubs will be heading to Croke Park in January.
The GAA have confirmed that the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland junior and intermediate club championship finals will take place on Saturday 13 January at Croke Park, throw-in times to be confirmed.
- Junior: St. Catherine’s v Tullogher Rosbercon
- Intermediate: Castlelyons v Thomastown
On the senior front, O’Loughlin Gaels will have an extra week to prepare with Sunday 21 January confirmed as a double-header for the AIB GAA hurling and football All-Ireland senior club championship finals. The football lineup will be complete in January with the semi-finals booked for 7 January between St. Brigids and Castlehaven, Kilmacud Crokes and Glen.
- Senior: O’Loughlin Gaels v St. Thomas
You’ll be able to catch all three games live in full on KCLR in January.
